Ashcroft memos may spur data law repeal

Monday 4 February 2002 21.30 EST
First published on Monday 4 February 2002 21.30 EST

The government is planning to repeal the Data Protection Act after the success of the former Tory treasurer, Lord Ashcroft, in obtaining confidential government memorandums about himself, according to Whitehall sources.

Ministers are planning to approach their EU and Council of Europe partners to see if the act can be replaced by narrower legislation restricting the right of people to obtain documents held on them by government departments.

The initiative, from Sir Richard Wilson, the cabinet secretary, will require Britain to win support for overturning the data protection convention and repealing parts of the 1984 and 1998 acts.

The British argument is that the act was meant to protect privacy but was not designed to be used by people to trawl Whitehall to find out what documents were held on them.

Sir Richard is understood to be shocked that independent legal advice obtained by the Foreign Office led to the release of too much information to Lord Ashcroft. Checks were made at every British embassy to discover if they had files on the billionaire businessman, who has interests in Belize, the Caribbean and east Asia.

The situation worsened after Lord Ashcroft took his case to the courts, obliging more departments to release information in advance of the case he is bringing against Clare Short, the international development secretary, and Robin Cook, the former foreign secretary, seeking £50,000 for breaches of privacy. The documents Lord Ashcroft obtained under the Data Protection Act will be a key part of the action and include FO papers questioning his demeanour.

The comedian Mark Thomas has also obtained embarrassing memorandums from the export credit guarantee department. One described him as "an out and out nutter".

Whitehall has introduced tougher guidelines for civil servants advising them to be extremely careful about what they include in people's files.